Tony Award-nominee Christopher Jackson appeared on today's episode of Tamron Hall to discuss the highly anticipated premiere of "Hamilton," coming to Disney+ on July 3.
On watching the musical for the first time from a brand new perspective, Jackson said: "Wow. Now I kind of see what the big deal is about...You know when you're in the middle of it, it is an experience but as soon as one show is over with, the next show begins. So it's a hard thing to understand in terms of just the magnitude of the effect that it has and that it has had. And the fact that more people have listened to it than have been able to see it. And in one weekend that number will just be blown out of the water."
Commenting on the headlines surrounding the removal of specific explicit language in order to acquire a PG-13 rating, Jackson said: "Much is being made of the supposed censoring of the show, it is not that. We should all just calm down a little bit. The show is absolutely intact. And moreso, you're going to have a lens into this show that no one that ever sat in that theater ever had."
When asked how he feels about the musical being made available to such a wide audience during these times of Broadway closures, Jackson shared: "It makes me feel like we're reaching all of those young dreamers who are figuring out how to make it to this place called New York City to do this thing called theater. I didn't have access to great musical theater soundtracks. I'm old enough to not have had the internet when I was growing up. You know the greatest compliment that any of us could ever get is the guy walking up, saying 'Well I didn't go to theater, but I came to your show and now I go to theater,' or the young kid who's like 'This soundtrack gave me life, it gave me an opportunity to expand on my dream and focus on what it is that I want to do.'"
He added: "I was that kid where the TONY AWARDS were about the only Broadway exposure that I ever had and that happened one time a year. So, the idea that this is out there is magical and my hope is that it'll just continue to inspire all of those young kids who are dreaming about it."
Watch the interview below!
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